If you’re new to blogging or ever wondered how to make money blogging, this in-depth guide will walk you through step-by-step starting a successful money-making blog.
You might think – I could never do that, only a few lucky people make money blogging, you’ve gotta have some technical skills.
At the time of this writing, I’ve been blogging for only 1 1/2 years. And most of that time I spent on my podcast and writing my book – not blogging. And yet one day I realized – hey, I can make money blogging! In October 2016 my blog made $20,936.66. You can find out more reading my income reports. And I don’t say that to brag, but to show you, you can do it.
In this guide on how to make money blogging, I’ll show you what I’ve learned over the past 1 1/2 years. The best part about blogging is how cheap it is to get started. For the cost of a cup of coffee once a month, you can become a blogger.
The guide is broken down into eleven parts. Let’s get started.
Why Should You Blog?
What Should I Blog About?
How To Create Your Blog
How To Make Money With Affiliate Income
How To Make Money With eBooks
How To Make Money by Freelancing, Staff Writing, and Advertising
Why You MUST Build An Email List – And How To Get Started
How To Write Great Content That Gets Shared
How To Grow Your Blog And Get More Readers
The Resources I Use For My Business
How To Become Irresistible And Grow Your Following
Part 1 – Why Should You Blog?
I started blogging in the spring of 2015. Considering how long blogging has been around – that’s a pretty late start.
Why would anyone want to blog? There are plenty of reasons. And it’s still a great time to get started. Check out this list and see some of the reasons why.
1. It’s fun and rewarding
Blogging is fun. I get to write about things I enjoy and I meet people online who share similar interests.
I spent most of my career sitting behind a computer. At one of my jobs we worked in a room with no windows that we called the cave. Don’t get me wrong – I love being behind a computer. But there isn’t much social interaction.
When I decided in 2015 I was going to flip my life on its head and do exactly the opposite of everything I’ve ever done:
help people with their problems
go to conferences and meet people
talk to people (you don’t do that much as a programmer)
my entire outlook on life changed. I get to help people with their finances. I’m making a difference.
2. You’ll make new friends
I have made so many new friends I wouldn’t have met otherwise. It’s amazing! Relationships might start out as comments on a post, replying to a Tweet, or an email.
My virtual friends end up becoming people I hang out with who live close by, or people I see at conferences. I have a whole bunch of new people I’ve met that I consider friends.
Often you might feel alone –
Am I the only person out there that likes Tonkinese cats?
But if you start blogging about Tonkinese cats, suddenly other Tonkinese cat lovers find you. And because of your common interest, you quickly form a common bond.
3. You’ll learn new things
I am a life-long learner. When I
lived in Atlanta, I would visit the library once a week, check out the
new releases, and pick up any book that looked interesting.
The
reason I love writing about personal finance is that there is so much to
learn. From extreme couponing to 403(b) annuities to tax deductions
through conservation easements (haven’t heard of that one, have you?)
No matter what subject you pick to write about – even if it’s
you
– there are new things to discover. Writing is just putting your
thoughts to paper. You can have an opinion, observation, or just ask
questions.
There is no need to become a research specialist when
it comes to learning. Everything you could want to know is available
online.
4. You’ll challenge yourself
I am an introvert.
What was surprising to me at the last conference I attended were how
many people stood up in front of a room full of people and said:
- I am an introvert.
- I am shy.
Blogging is a way to break through the limiting beliefs that are holding you back from experiencing your best life.
If you want to remain behind the scenes and write for the pure joy of it – that’s ok too! Nothing says you have to do a road tour and meet all of your readers.
But everyone I’ve heard from and talk to say the same thing:
Getting out of my comfort zone and putting myself out there was the best decision I ever made.
5. You can grow a business
In just 18 months of blogging here is a list of the amazing opportunities I’ve had:
- Speaking at a big financial conference
- Being interviewed on the radio
- Being interviewed on dozens of podcasts with a reach of hundreds of thousands of listeners
- I’ve been quoted countless times in online publications, including Forbes and U.S. News & World Report
All of these help build my brand and grow my business.
6. You can save on taxes
You won’t find this reason mentioned except on a personal finance blog.
Blogging is a business. When you make money from it, you become a business owner.
There is a different tax code for business owners, and the benefits are
HUGE.
Now
I do not claim to be a tax expert (I am probably compared to you, but
I’m not going to do your taxes). I’ve been a small business owner since
2000. The number of deductions you can take if you own a business
compared to a non-business owner is incredible.
If I find a
relevant business conference in Orlando (Disneyworld!) I can write-off
all my travel expenses (not for my kids, but my food, plane ticket,
lodging, etc.).
Because I have a home office, I deduct 10% of all
my utilities as a business expense (my office makes up 10% of the size
of my house).
If you run your business
expenses through a credit card, you can accumulate points for free
benefits. My wife and I have flown to Hawaii and stayed one week at the
Four Seasons – for free. It was paid for with credit card points we accumulated from legitimate business expenses.
You can end up with
thousands of dollars in deductions.
I
do want to point out there are IRS rules for having a legitimate
business. I won’t get into them here. Bottom line – if you start a blog,
and your blog starts making money – you have a business.
Seek out a tax expert so you can take advantage of the tax benefits of being a small business owner.
7. You have something to say
That’s right – you have something to say! Everyone does.
Right now you might be wondering –
what should I blog about?
Tomorrow I’ll give you a sure-fire way to find the one thing you’ll love to write about.
8. To have financial freedom
While this guide is about how to make money blogging, money is just a tool to achieve your goals in life.
People
can tell in your writing if you are passionate about something. You
could make a lot of money blogging about fashion for example. But if you
aren’t fashionable or don’t care much for fashion, you’re much less
likely to succeed. And you want to succeed, right?
There are
dozens of things I could have blogged about and made a lot more money,
but I like helping people with their money. One guy put it appropriately
–
You’re going to start a business that helps broke people who don’t have any money to pay you?
Yes. Because for me, the opportunities to build a profitable business extend beyond helping those who may be broke.
Blogging is a path to financial freedom. Like any other job, it will take time and effort. However being a blogger, you’re in the driver’s seat.
You’re the boss. You work as much or as little as you want.
Action items
Every part in this series includes one small, manageable step. So are you ready to get started?
All I want you to do is
write down the reasons you want to blog. You can certainly pick more than one!
Writing
for writing’s sake (journaling) is great to record your life and
events. But if you want to be a successful blogger and achieve some of
those things in the list I mentioned, you need to know your Big Why.
Knowing your
Big Why is what’s going to motivate you to follow through and take each daily action.
Part 2 – What Should I Blog About?
I get this question a lot when people are thinking about starting a business too.
What kind of business should I start?
Try this quick 10-minute exercise:
- Take a sheet of paper
- Draw a line down the middle, so there are two columns
- In the left column take 5-minutes and write down everything you are passionate about
- In the right column take 5-minutes and write down everything you are an expert on
- Circle everything that overlaps in the two lists.
The overlap is called your ‘
Zone of Genius‘. It’s where you take something you know about (you’re an expert in) and that you would be passionate about writing.
Here’s the thing – if you pick a topic you’re only
mildly interested in,
you won’t stick with it. It’s a waste of your time, and you
won’t be successful.
I’m
an expert cake baker, but I only bake 1–2 cakes a year. I’m not that
passionate about baking. I used to be when I was single and had nothing
better to do on the weekends. It wouldn’t make sense for me to start a
cake blog because I’d likely flame out and quit.
What if I’m not an expert?
For some reason people don’t realize this:
No one starts out as an expert at anything. You become an expert.
Let me share with you all the things I’ve become an ‘
expert‘ on since I’ve started blogging that I wasn’t an expert on before:
- Publishing a book
- Producing a podcast
- Creating well-written blog posts
- Public speaking
- Explaining complex financial topics in easy-to-understand terms
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- And LOTS of other things
Someone once said if you read three books on a subject you’re an expert. Why?
Because 99.99% of the population hasn’t read even one book on the subject.
The reason I’m an ‘
expert‘ on everything in that list is that I learned how to do it. Plus – I kept practicing until I got better.
You can do the same.
If
you have an interest or passion, wouldn’t you enjoy learning more about
it? And the process of learning would be fun, right? It wouldn’t be a
drag. If it is, you might consider a different topic to write on.
I
thoroughly enjoy learning more about personal finance and sharing that
knowledge with others so they can improve their lives. I also happen to
enjoy the business side of things and learning how to reach more people
so I can help them too.
Realize you don’t have to be an expert
That’s right –
you don’t have to be an expert.
I didn’t drop into this industry as an expert. It was a process. Over time you will become known as an expert.
If
you’re just starting out learning about how to make awesome cheap
sandwiches, for example, you build your blog and community around your
newfound expertise on making awesome cheap sandwiches.
You can then package that expertise into an ebook, digital course, printed book, or advertising opportunities.
If
you teach someone how to make a great sandwich, you’re an expert
sandwich maker to that person. You only need to know a little more than
someone else to be an expert in their eyes.
Sometimes just documenting your journey from beginner, to intermediate skills, to expert, will make you an expert.
For
example, I documented some of my beekeeping journey on my website. I’m
two years in, which makes me an expert compared to anyone who hasn’t
bought bees yet.
You can document anything you want to get good at, or that’s occurring in your life:
- motherhood
- baking cakes
- gardening
- getting a pilot’s license
- how to buy a classic car
- being more productive
Look at the movie Julia and Julia. It is based on someone preparing all 524 recipes in Julia Childs’ landmark cookbook,
Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And that journey got turned into a movie!
What I’m saying is –
the sky is the limit. You can document your journey about anything.
I’ve met plenty of personal finance bloggers that are or were deep in debt. They blogged about getting out of debt.
Many of them now make over six-figures per year blogging.
Just write!
I ‘started’ my blog in January 2015. When I say start, I got WordPress set up on Bluehost.
Then I went down the rabbit hole of trying to make my blog look pretty.
I spent the first
six weeks
trying to make my site look amazing. I didn’t write a single blog post
for nearly two months. I spent the whole time making the graphics look
nice, figuring out the structure, the menus. I revised my logo about
53 times to make it perfect.
What I didn’t do was write anything.
I
wasted a lot of time. Finally, after Valentines Day rolled around, I
said to myself – when are you ever going to write something and publish
it!
Perfection is the Enemy of Good.
My blog today looks nothing like it does when I started. In fact, I completely overhauled it with a new look.
The six weeks of work I put in eighteen months ago has been trashed.
Just
write.
Write anything. People are curious, and they want to get to know you.
If you have to write about what you did this weekend and file it under
your My Life folder on your blog – that’s great!
Action items
Decide what you want to blog about! Figure out your
Zone of Genius and pick from there, or decide on something where you’ll document the journey.
Then
tell the world about it because your friends and family will hold you
accountable. Post it to Facebook or tell a close friend. But don’t let
the naysayers get you down. You
can earn a living as a blogger, and
you can do it.
Part 3 – How To Create Your Blog
In this part you’ll start a blog on WordPress. I’ve got a
video tutorial that walks you through the process step-by-step in just 15 minutes.
It’s simple –
if you want to be a successful blogger you need to run your blog on a successful platform.
Let
me give you an analogy – if you wanted to open a successful restaurant,
would you use ingredients you could find for free? Of course not
because who knows what you kind of ingredients you would be getting at
no cost. You would start with the
best ingredients you could
afford.
Lucky for you – it doesn’t cost much to get started blogging (in other words, it’s the cheapest business you’ll
ever
start). You can get a good quality restaurant up and be running without
breaking the bank. Plus if you decide you don’t want to be a chef, you
get a
100% money back guarantee. Not bad!
Where to get started
WordPress
is the #1 blogging software in the world. If you want to start a
WordPress blog for cheap, going with Bluehost to run your blog is the
answer.
I’ve used Bluehost to start three companies (including this website). In fact, the first time I used them was in 2005.
You can
start your blog with Bluehost
for as low as $2.95 a month (a discounted rate I personally negotiated
and that is available only through my link). Plus they give you a free
domain name if you go with the 12-month hosting plan (that’s a $15
value).
The best investment you can make is signing up for the
12-month hosting plan through Bluehost. You save money by signing up for
at least 12 months.
If you change your mind later, you can get a
refund at any time. In six months if you decide to get a refund (you
won’t because you’ll enjoy blogging so much), you can get a partial
refund for your unused time.
Why pay for hosting?
You can
find free blogging services like Blogger where you could start a blog. I
already mentioned how that would be like using free ingredients to cook
with and start a restaurant.
Here’s what’s important – if you ever want to:
- make money off your blog
- make money off your freelancing
- build a successful business
- have a professional looking website that attracts visitors and customers
you
have to pay for hosting.
The
reason is simple – customization and flexibility. Free blogging
services like Blogger don’t allow you to add all of the features
available with paid hosting. Such as:
- shopping carts
- advertising
- speed enhancements to improve the user experience
- free add-ons to make your site look better
- access
to thousands of free WordPress plugins (custom functions and features
so that each blogger can tailor their site to their specific needs)
I’ve been building online businesses and e-commerce websites since 2000. I would
never
in my life start a new website with a “free” blogging or “free” website
platform. If you do, within months your website is going to start
growing, and
you’re going to have to switch to a paid platform anyway. You will have thrown away all that time (and lost money in the process).
I’ll give you another analogy. With free hosting, it’s like renting an apartment that has
steel walls. You can’t use a hammer and nails to hang pictures, install shelves, put up wallpaper or hang a TV mount.
With paid hosting, your apartment is like a
modular office space
you can customize however you want. You can move the walls around, put
nails in to hang pictures everywhere you want, install shelves, mount
five TVs around the place, etc. Heck, you can even cut a hole in the
wall and stick in a new window if you want.
You need to be able to customize your site if you want to make money.
For
example, if you want to make money from advertising, advertisers prefer
professional looking websites. A professional looking website is much
harder to get with the free blogging services, which is just one more
reason to go with a hosting platform like Bluehost.
Why Use Bluehost?
Here is why I trust and recommend Bluehost to new bloggers:
- Amazing
24×7 support via phone, e-mail, or chat. If you have questions on
getting started or setup, you can get help quickly and easily
- It’s
easy to get started. My 15-minute tutorial walks you through
step-by-step how to get started blogging. It really is that easy to
start a WordPress blog.
- FREE blog domain – Bluehost will give you a domain name for free such as www.MyAwesomeBlog.com
- 100% Money Back Guarantee – Bluehost has a 30-day money back guarantee
- FREE
WordPress setup. WordPress is the blogging software used by the
majority of bloggers. Bluehost includes an easy setup for adding
WordPress.
- Reliability – Bluehost websites are up 99.9% of the
time. Reliability is important because if your blog is down, you don’t
make any money! I lost over $5,000 in one day before when GoDaddy was hacked and my website was unavailable.
- Self-hosting.
If your goal is to make money from your blog you have to have a
self-hosted blog. Self-hosting just means you are paying to host the blog yourself using a service, as opposed to using a free service that hosts it for you.
- You’ll
look professional – Free blogs like Blogger, Tumblr, or WordPress.com
limit you in various ways and appear less professional than self-hosted
blogs.
- It’s cheap! Price matters. And when you have quality and price, it’s a win-win for you. Bluehost starts at just $2.95 per month (a discounted rate available through my link) which is less than a cup of coffee!
When you are ready to get started,
click here to sign up with Bluehost. Then read my step-by-step tutorial on
How To Setup A Blog On WordPress in 15 Minutes.
There
are a lot of blog hosting companies you might come across. As someone
who has been in the online business since 2000 and has started three
successful companies using Bluehost, invest in yourself and check them
out.
Naming your blog
What if you can’t think of a name for your blog?
One
challenge of getting started blogging has nothing to do with writing or
setting up the blog. It’s figuring out what to name your blog!
You might think all the good names are taken! It just takes time to find the right one for you.
Even
if you can’t think of one yet, you can get your blog setup and finish
up the name later. I’ve worked on a lot of websites where we had an idea
(our adoption website) and started developing it, only to settle on a
name weeks later (NRFA.org).
If you’re stuck on picking a name check out the book
Hello My Name Is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick
Action Items
- Sign up for a blog host (Bluehost is the one I recommend) and get WordPress installed. You can follow my step-by-step instructions.
- Start thinking about a name for your blog
Part 4 – How To Make Money Blogging With Affiliate Income
You’ve probably asked yourself the same question.
Can I do it too?
Yes!
When I started blogging in
2015, I never planned on making money with my blog (making money with your blog is called
monetizing). I had other ideas I wanted to pursue that would financially support my business:
- writing books (did that)
- building online courses (haven’t had time to do this yet)
- advertising on my podcast (not pursuing this right now)
- public speaking (did that)
- building a membership site (undecided on this one because it’s a bit time consuming)
Then
I started learning about affiliate marketing and how easy it was to
monetize a blog. Eighteen months after starting my blog when I first
focused on monetizing it,
I made $11,400 in my first month.
I
share that with you because there is plenty of opportunities for new
bloggers to make money. The thing that gets me is if I had known then
what I know now (and what I will share with you),
I could have made money with my blog much sooner. Lesson learned!
Keep this in mind –
I’m new to blogging too. While I’m not new to online business, I’ve never had a serious blog like I do now. And I’m just getting started. That’s proof
new bloggers are still making money.
I’ve met bloggers at conferences that made $50,000 – $100,000 in their first year! It’s crazy, and it’s possible.
It doesn’t matter how crowded you think a particular topic is (
there are thousands of personal finance bloggers like me) there is room for you to carve out a piece of the pie for yourself.
How can you make money blogging?
I’m
going to walk you through each of these topics in the upcoming lessons.
But let’s look at the many ways you can make money with a blog:
- Affiliate marketing (which is free to do)
- Selling ebooks
- Advertising on your blog
- Freelancing and writing for other blogs and websites
- Having sponsored posts on your blog
What’s nice about some of these are they are passive income streams. Meaning your blog has the potential to make money
24 x 7.
- while you sleep
- while you’re on vacation
- while you’re watching TV
Katie
& I have spent weeks away from home traveling the world – Egypt,
Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland to name a few – all the
while our online business continued to make money for us.
How long does it take to make money blogging?
I’ll
never forget when Katie & I launched our first digital product in
2007 and started selling it using PayPal. She made seven sales at $50
each on the first day, all the while she was working at an internship.
I want you to have realistic expectations, though. Those results are not the norm. My first month of monetizing my blog I made
several thousands of dollars. But that occurred after I had been blogging for eighteen months. But
do the math – I’m estimating my business will earn
six-figures in ** the second year**. And I’ve never monetized a blog before!
Realistically I could have made money much, much sooner, but I focused on other parts of my business (like my podcast
Financial Rock Star, and then writing my best-selling book
99 Minute Millionaire).
Yes,
you can make money blogging, but it isn’t a get-rich-quick business.
It’s like building any business. It takes time, effort, and persistence.
But the more you invest in yourself, the faster you’ll become
successful.
I’ve read a story in Forbes
magazine about a mother on welfare who built a 7-figure online business
in a little over a year. There are some bloggers that earn six-figures
after one year, and others that earn several thousand dollars on the
side after a few months of blogging.
Anything is possible.
If you’re a hard worker and a go-getter, you can really shine.
Making Money Blogging With Affiliate Income
Let’s start making some passive income from your blog through affiliate income.
I love affiliate income. It’s simple – your blog acts as a salesperson selling products. But there is:
- no inventory
- no costs of any kind
- no shipping of products
- no investment
- no fees to sign up and get started
It sounds almost too good to be true – but it’s real and 100% legit.
Let me give you an example. Let’s start with the biggest affiliate program in the world –
Amazon.
Here is a link to a cookbook on Amazon (
go ahead and click it).
A
new window will open up and take you right to Amazon where you can buy
the book. If you bought that book, I would earn an affiliate commission
from Amazon. Let’s call it $0.50.
If you’re over at Amazon, you
might decide today is the day you’re going to spring for that new T.V.
that costs $400. If you buy it, I get an affiliate commission on that
too. We’ll call it $25 because I sent Amazon the referral.
All I
had to do was put a link in my blog to the cookbook. That’s it. Someone
visits your blog where you talk about the Joy of Cooking, and they click
the link. The link takes them to Amazon. If they buy the Joy of Cooking
(or anything else), you earn a commission.
It’s
free to sign up and become an Amazon affiliate (it’s called the Amazon
Associates affiliate program). You can earn up to 10% in commissions.
Affiliate
income comes from links on your blog where you mention products you
love. You might review a product or include a link as part of a personal
story –
I bought this awesome shirt on Amazon for my upcoming trip!
Here are some of the things on my blog I have Amazon affiliate links for:
- lightbulbs
- medical kits
- my favorite business books
- energy efficiency products for your home
- podcasting equipment
No matter what you blog about, there are going to be products for which you can have an affiliate link.
And
the best part is the links on your blog may be around for years. You
can end up earning money from an affiliate link for something you wrote
about three years ago. That’s the great thing about passive income –
it just keeps coming.
How to get started with Affiliate Income
Here are the step-by-step instructions to get started with affiliate income. Remember all of these programs are FREE to join.
1. Join affiliate programs
I mentioned Amazon in our example, but there are many other affiliate programs available.
Some
product websites have an affiliate program which may not be listed. If
you have a product you love contact the company directly and see if they
have an affiliate program.
You just have to click the link and go through the sign-up process. Amazon is the easiest and has been around the longest.
You should at least sign up for Amazon to get started.
2. Promote the link on your blog
There are different ways to promote a product:
Product reviews
Consider
doing a book review or writing an in-depth product review. In the first
month of blogging, I did a few in-depth product reviews. These pages
are some of the most highly visited on my website.
Product comparisons
Comparing
two different products side-by-side helps your readers weigh the pros
and cons of each. By helping them make a decision, you help build a
loyal fan base.
You can see an example of where I compared two budgeting software products here.
There
are many photography bloggers that talk about camera equipment. Camara
equipment can be very expensive, and the affiliate commissions can be
much larger.
Resources/recommendations page
Many people will be interested in what tools and resources you use to do stuff. For example, I have a
resources page for all of the blogging tools I use. You can see an example of my resources page
here.
It doesn’t have to be fancy – just a picture, product name, and a description. To go the extra mile include a brief summary of why you like the product.
Mentioning the product in what you write about
This
one is easy. If you are writing an article on baking a cake, for
example, you can include a link to the cake pan you like to use in the
recipe.
Creating tutorials
You help your readers by saving them time with step-by-step tutorials. You can document
anything that involves assembly or a process.
You
can even document something that already has documentation if you think
you can do it better! Just think about YouTube videos you’ve watched on
how to do or fix something because the manufacturer’s documentation
doesn’t make sense. I look up tutorials all the time on how to use the
features of software I own.
I have several step-by-step tutorials
on my website for using different personal finance products. If I like
the product, I’ll include an affiliate link.
Tips for good product promotion
Honesty
Be
honest in your review. Giving a glowing review of a bad product just to
try to earn affiliate income is a bad idea. When you are honest and
help your blog readers, they will reward you with loyalty and become a
life long fan. That’s worth much more because they will help share your
blog to other people.
Promote the benefits
People buy things because it helps solve their problems or makes them feel better:
- Does it save them time? (This ceramic pan cleans up in a flash!)
- Does it save them money? (This book shows you how to save money on groceries)
- Will it help them make more money? (This course gives you a proven plan to getting your dream job)
- Will it help them relax? (This hebal tea will help you sleep better)
I promote Betterment
as a fantastic way to get started investing because it’s easy and only
takes ten minutes to start saving for an awesome retirement.
The better you become at sharing the benefits of a product, the more likely the person is to purchase the product.
Good product placement
The longer your blog post, the more you can talk about a product or service.
But that doesn’t mean you should include a link in every paragraph.
If it’s a short article, 1–2 times may be enough.
For longer blog articles it’s ok to include a link at the beginning, middle, and at the very end.
Action items
- Sign up for free to Amazon’s affiliate program.
- Write a blog post about some product you like and include an affiliate link to it in your post.
Part 5 – How To Make Money Blogging With eBooks
Now
we’ll talk about how to make money blogging with eBooks. I’ve been
creating eBooks since 2009. The best part about eBooks is they are easy
to create, and you can sell them for a long time.
The eBook I wrote in 2009 was bundled with some other products. I didn’t have to update it again until 2014.
I sold it for five years! That particular product generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for my business.
Here are some common questions and answers about creating an eBook.
How long should my eBook be?
As long as necessary.
Your
book should be at least 40 pages so the buyer will see the value in it.
That doesn’t mean it has to be 40 pages, single spaced, a 10-point font
in an 8.5“x11” page size. Format it how you like – big fonts, pictures,
charts, lots of white space.
Ask yourself this question:
If I bought this book, would I feel like I got a good deal?
How do I format an eBook?
eBooks are delivered in PDF format.
You can do it yourself by printing a Microsoft Word file or Google Doc to PDF format. It takes about 2 seconds.
If you want a nice cover you can hire a graphics artist on
Fiverr or
Upwork to create one for you. You will pay anywhere from $5 (Fiverr) for a simple cover to $299 if you use a service like
99Designs.
I
used 99 Designs for the cover of my book 99 Minute Millionaire (just
noticed we share a similar name). I was very pleased with the service.
If you have the money to spend (which you will someday if you keep
blogging) – they are worth checking out.
How much should I charge for my eBook?
I’ve paid $10 for eBooks that were 30 pages long. I’ve also paid $29 for eBooks that were 100 pages long.
How
you price your eBook is based on the value you provide, and how your
book compares to similar products (if there are any). A good price point
is less than $10. Most people are willing to part with $10 for a book.
If
you are an expert in a particular field, you can get away with charging
more. For example, the $29 book I mentioned was a workout and diet
program by someone that placed second at the Mr. Olympia contest. He
obviously knows what he’s doing, so he can charge more for his eBook.
How do I sell an eBook?
Selling an eBook is as simple as setting up an account with PayPal and slapping a PayPal button on your website.
When
Katie & I started selling our first digital products in 2007, this
is what we did. When we started making more money we moved to a custom
shopping cart.
Thankfully technology has improved since then. Here are a couple of great choices:
Gumroad is a popular service that connects to your blog and allows you to sell digital products. It’s only
$10 a month for the service, and they take a small percent of each sale to cover the credit card transaction fees.
e-junkie is another great service which can have you up and selling in minutes. E-junkie is only
$5 a month for up to 10 products.
Can I make money selling an eBook?
Have you ever bought an eBook or a Kindle book?
There’s your answer.
I
own hundreds of Kindle books and have bought nearly 100 eBooks over the
years. I’ll share with you some of the titles I’ve purchased to give
you an idea of what people are selling (and making money on):
- Podcast Legal Survival Guide by Gordon Firemark
- Double Your Guitar Speed by Tom Hess
- Ultimate Sweep Picker’s Guide by Zack Uidl
- Phrasing Concepts for Rock Lead Guitar Soloing by Nick Layton
- Specific Carbohydrate Diet Lifestyle by Jordan Reasoner
- Road to Olympia 2015 by Ryan Terry
You can see I buy a lot of guitar books. There are some pretty obscure titles and topics in that short list. And I’m just one buyer!
Which brings me to my point – yes, it’s possible to make money selling an eBook on pretty much any topic.
Someone out there is willing to pay you for your expertise if you can do one of two things:
- Solve their pain
- Bring them pleasure
Turning Your Blog Into an eBook
Here’s
something else to consider – people don’t necessarily want to read all
your blog posts. You may write one blog post on a topic and then six
months later write something else on a similar topic.
People will pay you if you consolidate your blog posts and turn it into a book.
Of course, you’re probably wondering – why would anyone pay me for an eBook when they can get it on my blog for free?
One word –
convenience.
You’re
saving them time because they don’t have to dig around your site for
all of the information. It’s no different than if you’re searching the
Internet to learn about something. What’s easier – searching out ten
different sites, or finding
the one site that has
all of the information in one place?
Tiffany
“The Budgetnista” Aliche took all of her blog posts on budgeting, and
rolled them into a best-selling book on Amazon! It was the same content,
but people wanted something that had all of the information in one
place that they could easily read front to back.
Action Items
- Start
writing! If you haven’t started writing in your blog yet – start
writing. Sit down and write 500 words today about your blog topic.
The eBook you’re going to want to create for extra income can come right from your blog posts.
Part 6 – How To Make Money by Freelancing, Staff Writing, and Advertising
Freelancing and staff writing are two other great ways to make money blogging.
To
break into these lines of work you’re still going to need a blog. Think
of it like being an artist – you have to be able to display your work
and your portfolio. Your blog lets other people find you and review your
work.
I know many personal finance bloggers that make thousands of dollars per month writing for other websites.
To
get started, you’ll have to work your way up, just like at any job.
Your first jobs you may have to do for $20-$30 per article. Then you
charge a little more. Then a little more. Then a little more.
Some personal finance staff writers command $500 and up per article.
My friend Stephanie O’Connell (that I interviewed in
episode 028 of
my show) worked her way up from $20 and $30 articles to earning over
six-figures per year writing for major media outlets and Fortune 500
companies.
Sponsored posts
At some point, you’ll get approached (via email) by someone wanting to write a sponsored post and put it on your blog.
They pay you money; they write the post, and you add it to your website.
Why would anybody do this? To get their product or service in front of the eyeballs of your blog visitors.
The
post might be a product review, or include some links back to their
company’s website. They may even want to get access to any newsletters
you send out and include an ad.
There are a lot of types of sponsored content you could have on your website.
Warning:
Be very careful any sponsored content you accept. You run the risk of
losing part of your audience if you starting putting irrelevant or
inferior products and services in front of them.
I’ve built my reputation as a personal finance expert by not ‘
selling out‘. I don’t accept advertising revenue or sponsored content from any company offering a financial service or product.
Number one – it avoids any conflict of interest.
Number two – my readers and show listeners
trust me.
That
trust builds loyalty. When I do mention a product or service, my
listeners and readers know I’m not trying to shake them down for a quick
buck. The long term business is worth more financially than any short
term gains. Plus I look out for my audience –
they are more important to me than money.
It seems counterintuitive, but if you or a company puts People over Profit, you end up making more in Profit over the long run. Don’t you wish your cell phone provider or cable TV company thought that way?
Display advertising
I
bet you’ve seen websites with advertising on them before – right? Your
blog can also include ads. You get paid when a certain number of ads get
shown on your blog or when someone clicks an ad.
Adding display
ads to your website is another simple and easy way to make money. The
more visitors you get to your site, the more you can make.
There are many sources of display advertising:
You can sign up with any of these services. They include tutorials and instructions on how to place ads on your blog.
All of these services are
free to sign up.
AdSense
(Google AdSense) is one of the largest. It’s an advertising placement
service by Google. The program is for website publishers and bloggers
who want to display targeted text, video or image advertisements on
website pages and earn money when site visitors view or click the ads.
My two cents
I’m going to give you my two cents about display advertising –
I don’t like it.
It
is my opinion advertisements take away from the true value of your
website – whatever your message is. I think ads are distracting. Ads
also slow down your website.
Website speed
is important. If your blog is busy loading ads, your visitor might leave never to read your blog.
You have to strike a balance between making money with ads, keeping your site looking clean, and website speed.
Yes,
you can make money by having display ads on your blog. If you’re just
getting started, maybe you should try it just to earn your first few
pennies and get that rush of making money.
The other ways of making money other than ads.
And your visitors will love you for it.
And certainly don’t be afraid to
say no.
I’ve
turned down advertising for steaks, diamonds, all kinds of investing
products. It’s funny the emails I get sometimes. Why would I want to
advertise steaks?
But if Ruths Chris wants to advertise with me, maybe I won’t turn them down (my favorite steak place).
Action items
- Pick one strategy for making money
If you try to pick every strategy, it’s like trying to aim at five
different targets at the same time. You’ll miss all of them. Focus on
one at a time. Affiliate income is the easiest to get started (and
free).
- Sign up for a free Google Adsense account
I don’t want to discourage you from trying advertising on your blog.
Try out Adsense. Even if you’re not going to have ads on your site, you
might as well check it out and be familiar with it.
Part 7 – Why You MUST Build An Email List – And How To Get Started
Here is one of the most important and often overlooked things new bloggers don’t do – growing your email list starting
NOW!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard:
I wish I would have started building my email list sooner.
If you’re not building an email list from Day 1,
you’re making a HUGE mistake.
What’s an email list?
You’re probably on a few (
or a lot)
of email lists. In fact, you’re a part of my ‘Get Started Blogging’
email list where I send you this great blogging information each day.
An email list lets you collect the email addresses of your website visitors so that you can contact them later on.
Why would I want to build an email list?
You
might think the most important part of blogging is having people visit
your website. Visitors mean more advertising revenue TODAY, right?
Wrong.
While having people visit your website is important, being able to connect with your visitors in the future is
ten times more important.
It’s also worth
ten times more money.
Pretend for a moment you’ve been blogging for eight weeks and now you have enough content to put together an awesome eBook.
Who are you going to sell it to?
How will you sell it to all those people that have been visiting your blog for the past eight weeks?
How will you get them all to come back so you can tell them about your amazing new eBook?
Unless you have a way to contact them – you can’t.
while signed into your Amazon Associate account. (Remember to not use
Google Chrome! It works in Firefox, but I have not tested other
browsers.)
Complete the ad creation form below and click “create ad code”.
